Ballistic Missile Defense: DOD Needs to Address Planning and Implementation Challenges for Future Capabilities in Europe
GAO-11-220
Published: Jan 26, 2011. Publicly Released: Jan 26, 2011.
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Highlights
In September 2009, the President announced a revised approach for ballistic missile defense (BMD) in Europe. The European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) is designed to defend against existing and near-term ballistic missile threats and build up defenses over four phases as threats mature and new BMD technologies become available. Although the approach will include capabilities such as radars and landand sea-based BMD assets, the Department of Defense (DOD) has not yet established EPAA life-cycle costs. EPAA is DOD's first implementation of its new, regional approach to BMD. GAO was asked to evaluate DOD's plans for implementing EPAA. GAO reviewed the extent to which: (1) DOD has developed guidance and addressed management of cost and schedule for EPAA, and (2) DOD planning for EPAA is informed by operational performance data. GAO reviewed key legislation, policy and guidance, and initial plans for implementation and asset allocation.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to provide guidance on EPAA that describes desired EPAA end states in response to concerns raised by key stakeholders. | DOD partially concurred to this recommendation in comments on our report, stating it recognized the need to provide policy guidance on the decision to pursue a European Phased Adaptive Approach. In its comments on our draft report, DOD stated that the guidance GAO recommended would be in the 2012 update to Guidance for the Employment of the Force, then awaiting the Secretary of Defense's signature. Since that time, DOD affirmed in writing to us that it completed action in response to our recommendation when the Secretary of Defense signed the 2010-2012 Guidance for the Employment of the Force on April 9, 2011. We have asked DOD to corroborate this statement by providing us language from... the 2012 Guidance for the Employment of the Force, or from subsequent revisions, that provide guidance for the specific end states, strategic assumptions, and contingency planning for the European Phased Adaptive Approach, as we'd recommended. DOD has not provided us with such documentation despite repeated requests, most recently in July 2015. As a result we are unable to close this recommendation as implemented.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Missile Defense Executive Board to oversee and coordinate the development of life-cycle cost estimates that would provide for the management and oversight of EPAA and allow the department to assess whether its plans for EPAA are affordable and determine if corrective actions are needed. | We are closing this recommendation as implemented. DOD partially concurred with this recommendation, stating that it intended to develop specific life cycle cost estimates for the radars, interceptors, and related systems that make up the larger, integrated European Phased Adaptive Approach rather than an estimate for the broader, integrated system. However, since our report was issued, the Director of the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation prepared and later updated an independent cost assessment for the European Phased Adaptive Approach. The initial assessment was prepared in October 2012, and provided to congressional committees on February 25, 2014. It included...
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Missile Defense Executive Board to oversee and coordinate the development of an integrated EPAA schedule to include acquisition, infrastructure, and personnel activities that would help identify EPAA implementation risks that need to be considered. | We are unable to close this recommendation as implemented. DOD partially concurred with this recommendation, stating that the Missile Defense Agency uses an integrated Ballistic Missile Defense System schedule for the emerging European Phased Adaptive Approach requirements, and that in doing so the Missile Defense Agency ensures these requirements are appropriately detained and synchronized with the broader program schedule. In June 2015 DOD provided to us a summary of the Missile Defense Agency's progress on delivering an integrated ballistic missile defense capability for European Phased Adaptive Approach for Phases 2 and 3, which looks out to fiscal year 2019. As DOD indicated in its...
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct U.S. Strategic Command, in coordination with the Missile Defense Agency, to adopt BMD operational performance metrics for durability and effectiveness and include these metrics into the BMD test programs. | We are closing this recommendation as implemented. DOD fully concurred with this recommendation, stating that the Missile Defense Agency would factor in the combatant commands' operationally defined metrics when it determined whether its developmental and testing metrics were achievable, and whether these metrics met the commands' operational requirements. According to DOD officials, U.S. Strategic Command's metrics for assessing the operational effectiveness of ballistic missile defense elements and systems are intended to be general enough to be applied to all such capabilities, including all phases of the European Phased Adaptive Approach. DOD added that U.S. Strategic Command's...
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Topics
Ballistic missile defenseBallistic missilesDefense capabilitiesDefense contingency planningDefense cost controlDefense procurementMilitary operationsOperational testingProcurement planningStrategic forcesStrategic planningSystems development life cycleLife cycle costsCost estimates